Since the Joba Chamberlain news came out, a debate has sprung up about the wisdom employed by Mr. Chamberlain in being on that trampoline in the first place. Between the comments and Twitter, I’ve seen opinion range from “leave Joba alone!” to “Joba is the biggest idiot in the history of idiots.”

I think both of those are extreme. My view: it’s understandable that he wanted to have fun with his son. Who wouldn’t want to? But it was probably a bad decision here because trampolines are really freakin’ dangerous.

As it is, if you have one, your homeowner’s insurance company will make you pay a higher premium. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports there are approximately 100,000 backyard trampoline injuries a year. Kids die on them too. And while the CPSC hasn’t yet gathered numbers on those indoor trampoline centers — which is where it appears Chamberlain’s injury happened — they are likely pretty freakin’ dangerous too.

Since November, one Midwest trampoline park has had ambulances dispatched to it for trauma injuries ranging from broken ankles and dislocated shoulders to a head injury— a 13-year-old girl who fell on her head and reported tingling in her arms and difficulty breathing. Another West Coast center had fifteen ambulance calls since the place opened last fall, several of which were for serious injuries. These are only the ambulance calls; they don’t include the injuries where the parents took their children to the hospital.

The potential for devastating injuries concerns Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio …. we will probably shortly be seeing multiple lawsuits about trampoline park injuries, insurance companies refusing to continue to insure them, municipalities passing regulations prohibiting them and probably the Consumer Product Safety Commission cracking down on them.

Back to Joba. Is he a dumb guy for wanting to play with his son? Of course not, and my heart breaks for him. But at the same time, this is not just one of those situations where we look back at the decision after an injury and say, only then, that the decision was a poor one due to the occurrence of the injury.

Trampolines aren’t bicycles or community swimming pools. They do not require you to be particularly careless in order for an injury to happen. They are way more dangerous, and anyone whose career depends on being physically healthy has to think twice before participating in an activity with this much risk and where they make you sign elaborate injury waivers.

So, sorry, but for as understandable as it was that Chamberlain wanted to play with his son, he made a bad choice here. And that choice will cost him at least this season and maybe more. Maybe his career.

Former Mets catcher Johnny Monell signed a contract with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization, per a report by Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The 30-year-old originally struck a deal with the NC Dinos on Thursday, but the deal appeared to fall through at the last minute, according to Cotillo’s unnamed source.

Monell last surfaced for the Mets during their 2015 run, batting a dismal .167/.231/.208 with two extra bases in 52 PA before the club DFA’d him to clear space for Bartolo Colon. While he’s had difficulty sticking at the major league level, he’s found a higher degree of success in the minor league circuit and holds a career .271 average over a decade of minor league play. He played exclusively in Triple-A Las Vegas during the 2016 season, slashing .276/.336/.470 with 19 home runs and a career-high 75 RBI in 461 PA.

The veteran backstop appears to be the second MLB player to join the KT Wiz roster this offseason, as right-hander Donn Roach also signed with the club last month on a one-year, $850,000 deal.

Brewers’ right-hander Phil Bickford received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a drug of abuse, per the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin. This is the second time Bickford has been suspended for recreational drug use, as he was previously penalized in 2015 after testing positive for marijuana prior to the amateur draft.

Bickford was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2015 draft and was later dealt to the Brewers for lefty reliever Will Smith at the 2016 trade deadline. He finished his 2016 campaign in High-A Brevard County, pitching to a 3.67 ERA, 10.0 K/9 rate and 5.0 BB/9 over 27 innings.

Two other suspensions were handed down on Friday, one to Toronto minor league right-hander Pedro Loficial for a positive test for metabolites of Stanozolol and one to Miami minor league outfielder Casey Soltis for a second positive test for drugs of abuse. Loficial will serve a 72-game suspension, while Soltis will serve 50 games. All three suspensions are due to start at the beginning of the 2017 season for each respective minor league team.

We are very disappointed to learn of Phil’s suspension, but we fully support the Minor League Baseball Drug Prevention and Testing Program and its enforcement by the Commissioner’s Office. Phil understands he made a mistake, and we fully anticipate that he will learn from this experience.